


Life Among the Stars

by JustaTadStrange



Category: Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: Can get dark, Canon Gay Character, Coming Out, Edwardian Period, F/F, Genderbending, Historical References, Literary References & Allusions, Modern Setting, Period-Typical Homophobia, Period-Typical Sexism, Pet Cats, Platonic Relationships, References to Shakespeare, Space Opera, Space Shenanigans, Time Travel, Weird Plot Shit, Weirdness, Werewolves, Werewolves of London, Western Setting, Zombies, lesbian main character, no literally there is an actual opera in space, platonic doctor and oc, silly with some feels spliced in there, song references/parody, they're just friends and they bicker ok
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-12-18
Updated: 2016-12-18
Packaged: 2018-09-09 09:56:35
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,474
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8886478
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JustaTadStrange/pseuds/JustaTadStrange
Summary: Maeve Daly is a burnt-out college student turned news reporter and writer who just can't seem to catch a break. Or a story, for that matter-until a series of life-changing events brings her to a mysterious, old man whose appearance strangely resembles an angry owl.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Hey guys!
> 
> I'm so excited to share with you my FIRST long fanfiction on AO3!!! 
> 
> Because of my crazy school schedule with midterms before and after winter break, I may not be able to have a completely regular posting schedule. 
> 
> This fanfiction is going to be rather long-think of it like its own season in the show, with a new companion! This chapter is short, just for the sake of introducing Maeve and the story, but if longer chapters are preferred, please tell me! Comments and feedback are extremely appreciated <3
> 
> Now I should probably stop talking! Enjoy!!!

**_Well, shit._ **

    Maeve groaned as the shriek of her alarm clock sounded off, sending a warning to her ears to get the  _ fuck  _ up. For real this time. After her daily morning shower, attempting to untangle her nest of a haircut, getting herself dressed somewhat presentably, doing her half-hearted makeup, and getting breakfast, the university student realized that her schedule would be delayed by nearly an hour. At least one of these would have to go. 

    Considering she had woken up with literally the worst bedhead in the galaxy, showering and hair would have to stay. On any other day, the clothing aspect would mean little to her, but unfortunately, that day marked Maeve’s first professional interview- so dressing herself would be important.  _ Makeup?   _ Nah. Breakfast? Oh hell yes. 

    Maeve stretched her arms above her head before cracking her neck, lazily. Her movements were torpid as she tossed the duvet aside and stood up, making her way to the bathroom to quickly brush her teeth and wash her face, all the while listening to a playlist demonstrating her queer taste in music: Broadway show tunes, classic rock, and scores from her favorite television programmes and films. 

    As Maeve stripped down and hung her clothes up next to her towels, she could feel a furry, purring entity brush across her leg to skirt past her and jump on top of the (thankfully closed) toilet seat. Jade eyes watched as she shed her shorts and stuck her tongue out at her Bombay. “Oi, a little  _ privacy  _ would be nice, huh Jiji?” The human rolled her eyes and stepped into the shower, closing the curtains hanging in front of the tub. “S’not like I watch you try and lick your own balls-Don’t look at me like that.” She scoffed, turning on her faucet. “I  _ know  _ you do.”

    As hot water sprayed down on Maeve’s sleep-tensed body, she let out a sigh of relief, stretching out her arms and yawning. As she lathered her hair with shampoo, she pulled out her phone, thankful she had spent the extra money for a waterproof case. She quickly scrolled through her prepared answers for the interview, doing some last minute studying as she showered. 

    Nearly sure of herself, Maeve turned off the shower and wrapped herself in the warm, scratchy embrace of a towel. Once she opened the curtains, she was greeted by another of her feline friends. Petting the top of Natasha’s head, the Russian Blue gave a long pur and arched her back. “Hey there, Nat.” She nodded in acknowledgment as the cat nudged past her and leapt onto her safe. “Oh, I see, babe. Only stick around for my fortune.” Maeve smirked as the cat curled up around the compartment, licking her paws. “Oh I see. Real sweet of you, love.” 

    Rolling her eyes, looked at her cloudy reflection in the mirror. As condensation clouded the glass, the girl drew crude figures with her fingers, including one of a dictator-cat, bending over her stomach to lick her behind. Grabbing her hair dryer, the girl nodded to her own reflection, a determined look on her face, before flicking it on and bringing the hot-air-blowing device to her unruly, soaked curls. 

    Of course she looked like a poodle with her hair dried. That’s what her hairbrush was for, after all. Once she was done attacking her hair with her brush and product, attempting to ease the frizzy demon, she was well on her way to looking half-decent. Pulling her hair into a messy bun, she left the bathroom, her two cats in tow behind her.

    Finally, she picked out a slightly-better-than-her-average outfit that consisted of a dark blue blazer-jacket, a grey undershirt, black pants and a fuzzy blue scarf with speckles of red yarn sprinkled throughout. Decidedly, Maeve tugged on her worn scarf.  _ This would have to go once the meeting started.  _ Turning to her cats, Maeve sighed, straightened, and gave a half-hearted salute. “Don’t burn the house down while I’m gone, soldiers! That’s an order from your commander. Now scrat-I’m sure you don’t want me here while you lick your own genitalia.”

    Maeve filled Nat and Jiji’s bowls with copious amounts of cat food and water before slipping on a pair of brown flats and browsing her fridge and counter. A delightfully processed assortment of frozen pizza, cold pizza, soft drinks, instant macaroni and cheese, takeaway Indian and Chinese, and ramen was spread out in front of her, and judging by the misplaced vodka, she guessed that Jaime been stocking up for a party. Again.

    “Hey there, future pulitzer prize winner!” a familiar, cheery voice boomed with the jingle of her keys. With her head still in the fridge, Maeve pulled out the bottle of strong alcohol and twirled it in her fingers. 

    “You know you’re supposed to freeze this shite, right?” She asked, rolling her eyes. “All 80 proof vodka, which I’m assuming this is, freezes at -24 degrees, and our freezer is not that cold, for sure. It’ll be nice and chilled for whatever sausage fest you’ve got planned.”  _ Needless to say, Jaime was very, very straight.  _

__ “For your information, Little Miss Twee, I am not simply trying to get shagged by half our classmates, oh no. This isn’t going to be just any house, er... _ apartment  _ party!”

    Maeve raised her eyebrow, crossing her arms over her chest. “That right?” As she took a swig of milk straight from the carton, her roommate nodded. 

    “Bethany’ll be there.” Jamie added in a singsong tone, wiggling a suggestive eyebrow. She was lucky if there wasn’t milk all over her face. Once Maeve was done with the theatrics, her roommate continued, “With her  _ boyfriend.  _ Maybe you can cut in on that- _ or,  _ you could join in if you fancy a little  ménage à trois.”

    “Get stuffed,” Maeve responded, her face flushed. “You think that’d make me  _ want _ to show up?”  _ The last time she’d seen Bethany, the pretty ginger from her course, she was still in the closet, and her crush had been dating some bloke, was it Kyle? Something with a K...Well, Maeve didn’t know it so she ended up sort of coming out and gushed all of her feelings towards the girl after one too many glasses of unfortunately lukewarm vodka. Little did she know, the man she linked arms with was dating her.  _

_ Funny that.  _

_      Jamie had been making endless threesome jokes ever since _ .  _ Ever the supporting friend. _

    “I suddenly feel inclined to blow chunks all over the floor.” Maeve groaned as she theatrically stuck a finger down her throat.

    “So you’ll be there?” Jamie asked, hopefully. Maeve rolled her eyes, slamming the fridge close and crossing her arms.

    “It  _ is  _ my apartment,” Maeve said, grudgingly, giving the pantry a quick check before coming to the conclusion that there was nothing worthy of being eaten for breakfast.  _ Cafe food it is, then.  _

_     “Our  _ apartment!” Jamie let out a squeal and quickly wrapped her arms around her roommate in a bone-crunching hug, rendering a red faced Maeve speechless. Pulling away, the ginger giggled. “I’ll see you there, Maeve.” Pulling away, she smirked. “Now got to your damn interview already-you’re already fifteen minutes late for your train. If you want to eat a proper meal beforehand, that is-”

    Before Jamie could finish her thought, her roommate was already out the door.  _ I will never understand this one. _

    Perhaps Maeve was in too much of a hurry to notice the sluggish pace of those walking the streets of Oxford on her way to the dingy corner store and cafe that she always found herself at when she was in a crunch for time.

    And boy, was this a time crunch. So much so that she bought a cold sandwich from the cafe’s fridge rather than having the portly-woman behind the counter make a hot one on the crusty grill.  _ Although a gammon of hot bacon with some runny eggs and melted cheese on a roll sounded amazing to her at the moment.  _ She did however, allow time to be spent in getting herself a coffee. Maeve was determined to stay awake, and would  _ not  _ have a repeat of her dreadful university interviews. 

    Maeve checked her watch.  _ She was in and out of there in three minutes and twenty-eight seconds.  _ A new record. 

    The headquarters to BBC were an hour away in London, and her bus was due in in seven minutes. Maeve was a little over a quarter of a mile away. 

    Sustenance would have to wait until then. Her sandwich practically couldn’t get colder, but her coffee was what she was worried about. Maeve sprinted through the streets, a piping hot cuppa in one hand, and a cellophane-wrapped sandwich in the other. Occasionally, she would bump into some blokes on the street, but they brushed past her as if it were nothing.  _ Weird. _

    Finally, she made her way into the train station. Grasping her knees in exhaustion, she fumbled to unwrap her sandwich before inhaling the whole thing in about thirty seconds.  _ Also a new record.  _ She ate it so fast that she couldn’t even taste it. Then, she hunched over.  _ Curse her gag reflex.  _

    Maeve felt the cup of coffee in her hands, the little cardboard cover doing little to manage the heat. As she was running, Maeve couldn't even feel the weight in her hand, she had almost forgotten she was carrying it. The coffee almost seemed to shout out at her,  _ Drink me,  _ and who was she to refuse the seemingly sentient cup of nearly pure caffeine?

    Contentedly, she unfolded the lip, causing the bitter scent of black coffee to meld with the thick, damp air from the morning rain. She lifted the cup to her mouth, vision fogging ever so slightly from the steam. Just as she was about to take the first sip, a sharp noise rang in her ears and a brush of air cut right near her mouth.

    Within seconds, the cup was on the ground, scorching brown liquid staining the paved floor in steaming streaks.  In utter shock, she looked up at her hand, still positioned as if to hold her cuppa, and was met with one of the strangest sights the girl had seen in her life. 

    An aged, grey-haired man in a velveteen suit stood a mere six or so inches from her, panting as he held his knees and watched in satisfaction as the coffee spilled to the ground, into the grey pavement. 

    Before Maeve could even utter a confused bit of gibberish, the man speaks-rather,  _ pants.  _ “No caffeine!”  _ Scottish. Very Scottish.  _ “For the love of whatever god you worship-don’t drink the caffeine!” Without another word, he pulled the girl by the lapel of her jacket into a desolate corner of the train station. 

    Maeve knew she should probably kick this man in the balls and try to run as far away from him as possible, but she found that her legs had seized and turned into jelly. After furiously attempting to move for a few moments, she can only wiggle her finger the tiniest bit. So she only watches the man as he reaches into his jacket, revealing a sliver of red velvet, fumbles around for a bit, until he finds what he was looking for and pulls it out. Noticing the girl’s hung-open mouth, the man’s lips curl into a tiny smirk. “S’not polite to stare,” He grinned, revealing the long object in his hands, a glowy tool of some sort, blinking a luminescent blue as the man waved it down Maeve’s body. 

    “S’not polite to spill a girl’s coffee and pin her to the wall of a gross train station, either.” She snapped, attempting and failing to remain calm as the device neared her face.

    Realizing how incriminating the situation looked, his expression hardened as he gave a very halfhearted explanation to why he had practically abducted a college student in the middle of a sketchy train station and ruined her perfectly good cuppa. “I’m just checking something-” he began, keeping his gaze on the mysterious device trailing up and down the girl’s torso. “Please don’t think this is anything other than what it is. Trust me, I’m a Doctor.”

    Not knowing what to say, Maeve screams, “I’m a lesbian!” She bit her lip-  _ Good job, Maeve-if that didn’t work you just sounded like a bloody idiot! _

__ When she looked back at him, the man seemed completely unmoved by her outburst. He just nodded and continued with his bizarre tool. His brow furrowed, making him appear like less like a creepy old man and much more like a grumpy owl. If Maeve wasn't pinned to the grimy wall of a train station while a man with a magician’s outfit ran a glowing device down her body, she'd burst into laughter. “Good for you,” the man nodded as he finished with his  _ examination  _ and stuffed his strange tool back into his suit. “You're cute. You're a very cute lesbian.” He looked down at her gravely, as if what he was about to say was of the utmost importance. “But right now, you must be a very cute lesbian who doesn’t dare to drink a drop of caffeine or you’ll turn into one of  _ them!” _

__ Maeve furrowed her brow. “One of who?”

    “Observant, aren’t you!” The eccentric stranger exclaimed, rolling his eyes and gesturing behind him. “You mean to tell me you haven't noticed them at all? Just what kind of rush are you in?” 

    Maeve sighed, checking her watch. “A botched interview for an internship-” she scowled, wiping coffee from her jacket. “Now that you're here.” 

__ “Either a botched interview for a job you’ll probably detest or a living the rest of your life as an animated corpse-which one sounds more appealing to you?” The man asked, an intriguing mix of a scowl and a smirk on his face. 

    Wearing a confused expression, Maeve crossed her arms over her chest. “What are you saying?” 

     Sighing, the man stomped his foot on the ground. “You really don't know? You really should pay more attention to your surroundings…” He gestured for her to speak up.

     With a huff, Maeve rolled her eyes. “Maeve. Daly.” She responded, and the man nodded. “And I'm not actually a lesbian. I just didn't want to be assaulted in the middle of a train station by a stranger.”

     “You really should pay more attention, miss  _ Maeve-I'm-not-actually-a-lesbian-Daly.”  _

    “Oh, shut it, you twat.” Maeve rolled her eyes, as the man smirked. “And what should I call you, Mr.  _ I’m-Not-Actually-A-Sex-Offender?”  _

__ “Oh, you’re a clever one, alright,” He smirked, before continuing. “For the sake of shortening our long-winded interactions, I’ll tell you. You can call me the Doctor. I think you’ll find it’s quite easier to pronounce.” 

    The girl knit her eyebrows in confusion. “Doctor what?”


End file.
